Arrangement for air distribution in a freezer compartment

ABSTRACT

An arrangement for air distribution in a freezer compartment of the type closed by a front door ( 11 ) and to which is generally mounted, close to a respective rear wall, an air cooling compartment ( 30 ) in which an evaporator ( 40 ) and a fan ( 50 ) are lodged, said arrangement comprising at least one distributing tube ( 60 ) provided in an upper portion of the freezer compartment ( 10 ) and having: a rear end ( 61 ) maintained in fluid communication with the interior of the air cooling compartment ( 30 ); a front end ( 62 ) disposed in the front region of the freezer compartment ( 10 ) adjacent to the front door ( 11 ) thereof and provided with at least one front opening ( 63 ) facing said front region of the freezer compartment ( 10 ) and the region of the front door ( 11 ) of the latter.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to an arrangement for air distribution andcirculation in a freezer compartment with forced ventilation. Theinvention is specifically directed to a tube arrangement to equalize theair circulation inside the freezer compartment, as well as to intensifythe air supply to determined regions of said compartment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Some freezer constructions with forced ventilation are usually providedwith an air insufflating tube, disposed on the rear wall of the freezercompartment and which is provided with air outlet front openings facingthe interior of the compartment to be refrigerated.

In general, these compartments are refrigerated by a forced airdistribution through the operation of a fan located in the rear part ofthe appliance. In the known solutions, when the freezer compartment isvery loaded, or provided with baskets that hinder the air circulation,it is difficult for the cool air to reach the front region of thecompartment. For this reason, it is difficult to make use of the door ofthe freezer compartment by providing shelves thereon when baskets areused, which are commonly found in the vertical freezers and in thecombined appliances in which the freezer is located in the lower portionthereof.

In the prior art constructions, cool air is supplied to the freezercompartment through front openings in a distributing tube providedadjacent to a rear wall of the freezer compartment between the latterand a compartment in which are lodged the evaporator and generally afan, which forces the cool air to the distributing tube. The cool air isthus supplied to the spaces or gaps between the recipients provided inthe freezer compartment toward its front door, close to which it isconverted in a downward vertical flow, developed between the door andthe front edge of the shelves and which is collected, for example in thefront lower region of the freezer compartment, and conducted to theevaporator region.

The prior art system for forced air circulation mentioned above presentsthe disadvantage of producing a distribution of cool air which is notadequately uniform for the different regions of the freezer compartment,due to the fact that the insufflation of cool air is only effected fromthe rear wall of said compartment.

Another negative aspect of the known solutions results from the lowrefrigeration to which the internal region of the front door issubmitted, since this region receives a lower amount of the coolairflow.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

By reason of the disadvantages mentioned above, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide an arrangement for air distribution in afreezer compartment of the forced ventilation type, which can provide auniform distribution of the forced cool airflow to different regions ofsaid compartment.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an air tubearrangement such as mentioned above, which allows intensifying,selectively, the supply of cool air to different regions of the freezercompartment, including the region adjacent to the internal face of thefront door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention are attained through anarrangement for air distribution in a freezer compartment of the typeclosed by a front door and to which is generally mounted, close to arespective rear wall, an air cooling compartment, in which an evaporatorand a fan are lodged, said arrangement comprising at least onedistributing tube, disposed in an upper portion of the freezercompartment and which presents: a rear end maintained in fluidcommunication with the interior of the air cooling compartment; a frontend, disposed in the front region of the freezer compartment adjacent tothe front door of the latter and which is provided with at least onefront opening, facing said front region of the freezer compartment andthe region of the front door.

The new construction proposed by the invention allows the forced coolairflow, which is coming from the air cooling compartment, to be alsosupplied to the front portion of the freezer compartment and to theregion of the internal face of the door, which are thus adequatelyrefrigerated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described below, with reference to the encloseddrawings, given by way of example of possible embodiments of theinvention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of a possibleconstruction for a refrigerating appliance, having a freezer compartmentadjacent to an air cooling compartment including an evaporator and afan, illustrating the arrangement for air distribution of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the freezercompartment, taken according to a plane orthogonal to that of FIG. 1,but illustrating another construction for the distributing tube; and

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are views similar to that of FIG. 2, but illustratingthree more possible constructions for the distributing tube.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order to comply with the objects proposed above, the arrangement ofthe present invention is applied to a refrigerating appliance of thetype which comprises, in the interior of a cabinet, at least one freezercompartment 10 closed by a door 11 and provided with a distributing tube20, which is mounted close to a rear wall of the respective freezercompartment 10, in order to receive a forced cool airflow from an aircooling compartment 30 in which are provided an evaporator 40 and a fan50 usually mounted close to a rear wall of the freezer compartment 10.

The present invention will be described in relation to a known usualconstruction of a combined refrigerating appliance, having a lowerfreezer compartment 10 and presenting forced ventilation, as illustratedin FIG. 1 of the enclosed drawings.

To the interior of the freezer compartment 10 is insufflated cool air,which is coming from front openings 21 located in the distributing tube20 generally located in the region of the rear wall of the freezercompartment 10 and having an end, for example the upper end, receiving aforced cool airflow coming from the air cooling compartment 30.

However, though not illustrated, the arrangement of present inventioncan be applied to a refrigerating appliance other than that of theillustrated combined type, as long as it comprises a freezer compartment10 provided with a front door 11 and, close to a rear wall, with adistributing tube 20.

The arrangement of the present invention comprises at least onedistributing tube 60 located in an upper portion of the freezercompartment 10 and having: a rear end 61 opened to the inside of the aircooling compartment 30; a front end 62 disposed in the front region ofthe freezer compartment 10 adjacent to the front door 11 of the latterand which is provided with at least one front opening 63 facing saidfront region of the freezer compartment 10 and the region of the frontdoor 11.

In the illustrated construction, the freezer compartment 10 is providedwith only one distributing tube 60 situated close to the upper wall 12of the freezer compartment 10 or defined in the interior of said upperwall 12 of the freezer compartment 10, as illustrated in FIG. 1, andpresenting a rectilinear longitudinal tube extension 64 disposed alongthe upper wall 12 of the freezer compartment 10, for example in themiddle thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the distributing tube 60 canbe placed adjacent or close to the upper wall 12 of the freezercompartment 10 and being defined, for example by a chute, with a “U”shaped section, which is superiorly closed by the upper wall 12 itselfof the freezer compartment.

In FIG. 3, the distributing tube 60 takes the form of a chute, similarto that of FIG. 2 but with a lower height, which is mounted below alongitudinal recess 13 provided in the lower face of the upper wall 12of the freezer compartment 10.

In FIG. 4, the distributing tube 60 is defined by a longitudinal recess13, provided in the lower face of the upper wall 12 of the freezercompartment 10 and presenting a depth that is sufficient to define theadequate cross-section for the distributing tube 60, said longitudinalrecess 13 having a closing lower wall 13 a in the form of a plate whichis seated and secured below the upper wall 12 of the freezer compartment10.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the chute thatdefines the distributing tube 60 can present a height sufficient toassume the function of a shelf, onto whose bottom wall can be seatedproducts with reduced height, such as ice molds.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the distributing tube 60 can take the form ofan “U” shaped chute, superiorly closed by the upper wall 12 itself ofthe freezer compartment 10 and whose side walls, or other parts of itsstructure, are slidingly supported on rails 15 which are provided, forexample, on the opposite side walls of the freezer compartment 10, or onthe upper wall 12 of the latter. In this case, the distributing tube 60defines a kind of drawer, which can have its height dimensioned so as tostore products of low height, without impairing the forced cool airflowdirected to the front region of the freezer compartment 10. It should befurther understood that said drawer could take the form of a tubularchute.

The longitudinal tube extension 64 can incorporate, frontally, at leastone tube extension 65, which is downwardly inclined and provided with atleast one front opening 63. In a constructive option of the presentinvention, the tube extension 65 is provided inside the upper wall ofthe freezer compartment 10.

In one construction, the longitudinal tube extension 64 of thedistributing tube 60 can incorporate, frontally, a plurality of frontopenings 63 forwardly facing towards the front door 11 of the freezercompartment 10, in order to insufflate cool air to the front region ofthe latter.

According to the present invention, the front openings 63 can havedifferent inclinations directed to at least one of the forward anddownward directions, in order to direct respective forced cool airflowrespectively towards the front door 11 of the freezer compartment 10 andto the front portion of the interior of the freezer compartment 10.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the distributing tube 60 isalso provided with at least one ascending rear tube extension 66, whichis opened to the air cooling compartment 30 so as to receive from thelatter the cool air to be conducted to the front region of the freezercompartment 10.

The construction proposed by the present invention allows obtaining animproved distribution of cool air into the interior of selected regionsof the freezer compartment 10, providing better and safer conditions forfood preservation.

Besides the above-described aspect, the construction proposed hereinmakes the temperatures of the region of the front door 11 approximatethe temperatures observed inside the freezer compartment 10, promoting abetter preservation of the food stored therein.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in relation tocertain embodiments, it should be understood that changes in the formand in the physical arrangement of the elements could be made, withoutdeparting from the constructive concept defined in the appended claims.

1. An arrangement for air distribution in a freezer compartment of thetype closed by a front door (11) and to which is generally mounted,close to a respective rear wall, an air cooling compartment (30) inwhich an evaporator (40) and a fan (50) are lodged, characterized inthat it comprises at least one distributing tube (60) defined in theinterior of an upper wall (12) of the freezer compartment (10) andhaving: a rear end (61) maintained in fluid communication with theinterior of the air cooling compartment (30) a front end (62) disposedin the front region of the freezer compartment (10) adjacent to thefront door (11) of the latter and provided with at least one frontopening (63) facing said front region of the freezer compartment (10)and the region of the front door (11) of the latter.
 2. The arrangementas set forth in claim 1, characterized in that the distributing tube(60) is provided close to an upper wall (12) of the freezer compartment(10).
 3. The arrangement as set forth in claim 2, characterized in thatthe distributing tube (60) comprises a longitudinal tube extension (64)disposed along the upper wall of the freezer compartment (10) andfrontally incorporating at least one tube extension (65) downwardlyfacing and provided with front openings (63).
 4. The arrangement as setforth in claim 3, characterized in that the front openings (63) areturned to at least one of the forward and downward directions, in orderto direct respective forced cool airflows, respectively, toward: thefront door (11) of the freezer compartment (10) and the front portion ofthe freezer compartment (10).
 5. The arrangement as set forth in claim1, characterized in that the tube extension (65) is downwardly inclinedand provided in the interior of the upper wall (12) of the freezercompartment (10).
 6. The arrangement as set forth in claim 5,characterized in that the distributing tube (60) is provided with atleast one ascending rear tube extension (66) which is opened to the aircooling compartment (30) so as to receive, from the latter, the air tobe conducted to the tube extension (65).
 7. The arrangement as set forthin claim 1, characterized in that the distributing tube (60) comprises alongitudinal recess (13) provided in the lower face of the upper wall(12) of the freezer compartment (10) and defining the cross section ofthe distributing tube (60), said longitudinal recess (13) having aclosing lower wall (13 a) in the form of a plate which is seated andsecured below the upper wall (12) of the freezer compartment.